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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein waits for his car as he departs the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018.

Maryland sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general, calling him an "unqualified" partisan whom President Donald Trump put in place to protect himself, NBC News reported.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh is seeking to have a judge rule that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein be named as acting attorney general instead of Whitaker. Whitaker was chief of staff to Jeff Sessions and elevated after Sessions' forced resignation.

Frosh said federal law and the Constitution "protect the country against exactly what President Trump has attempted to do here — pluck an unqualified and unconfirmed partisan to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer in order to protect himself rather than the rule of law."

The Justice Department would immediately appeal any ruling that Whitaker cannot serve as attorney general.

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